I’m supposed to support our troops.

I’m supposed to support our troops. I used to be one; I ought to know how it feels to be left behind by budget cuts and red tape. I know how it feels to be among the honored who served our country, and then need help from the V.A. Retreating from battle just doesn’t seem American.

 

Yet, when we stood upon the precipice of war yet a second time, with a dictator whom we supported and supplied no less, instead of listening to Saddam who told us he had no WMDs, we ignored diplomacy and chose to yet again impose our boots upon the necks of innocent people and remove a leader from office. I often find it amusing, for lack of a better word, when those who find Saddam’s crimes reviling speak up about them in the U.S. They never spoke of them before. They were woefully ignorant. They instead sung the praises of President Ronald Reagan, who was one of the main suppliers to both the Taliban and Saddam. But times change, and so too must regimes.

 

Night after night, I hear of heroes from 9/11/01 and from the wars on my evening news. And I’m tired of people doing their jobs and being called heroes: Firemen, policemen, soldiers. I understand that one of these people might be a personal hero to you. I’m cool with that. But you know, in the grand scheme of things, heroes are the people who prevent tragedy, not killers or people who just do their job. People are so desperate for heroes that they made up so much information post-9/11 because they needed something.

 

Ground zero was a lexicon term exclusively used for nuclear detonation. It was co-opted for a scare tactic to burn the iconography into the American collective mind. And it worked. But not on me. Because times change, but the meanings of our words shouldn’t change.

 

It has been said that it’s easy to play Monday morning quarterback about this war, but I say not if you’ve been paying attention all along. The signs were there, the proof or lack thereof was always there, and now the bloodshed is here to stay. But times change, and so too must our thinking.

 

I’m supposed to support our troops and rally around the flag. I’m not supposed to think about it. Supporting the troops really means not getting them in harm’s way to begin with, not being a Bandwagon Patriot since 9/11/01. But times change, and thinking and using diplomacy just doesn’t seem American anymore.